Moroccan Style Lasagna

I really like to make good use of my leftovers. No waste. Plus the flavours come out really nice. Last Sunday I roasted a leg of lamb. It was quite big so I had a big portion left. Normally I do a curry. This time I was inspired to do lasagna , I done it before with pork leftovers and it came really tasty. This lasagna tastes a bit like a very mild curry, and it's basically the same ingredients I normally use to make a curry. Good to change and try new things. As I always say keep it interesting.

Moroccan Lasagna

Ingredients

Lasagna sheets
400g butternut squash
300g cooked lamb (you can easily do this with lamb mince)
200g baby spinach
2 onions
2 cloves of garlic
1tsp ground cinnamon
1tsp ground coriander
1tsp ground cumin
300 ml of vegetable or lamb stock
2 tbsp tomato puree'
1 tin chopped tomatoes
Seasoning
Bread crumbs
Olive oil

For the white sauce

Ingredients

450ml of full fat milk
40g butter
40g plain flour
Pinch of nutmeg
Seasoning

Preparation time: 20 minutes
Cooking time: about an hour
Total Time: Over an hour
Serves : 4
Level : Medium

Method

Heat some oil in a pan , add the onions, garlic and butternut squash in the pan , cover and leave to cook slowly for ten minutes, or until everything is soft. Cut the butternut squash into 2cm cubes (approximately) . Add all your spices to the pan stir in and cook for another minute. Add the lamb, (if it's mince brown it all over first). Add the tomato paste, the chopped tomatoes and the stock. bring to a boil and leave to cook uncovered for about 20 minutes. This will give you the time to prepare the white sauce. Melt the butter, and add the flour to it, cook for a minute or so. Add the milk slowly and stir constantly . Heat up slowly until thick enough. Leave a little while on the side. Return to your lamb sauce now, taste it and see if it needs any seasoning. Add the spinach and cover for 3 minutes. It will look like a lot of spinach, but it will wilt away. Uncover , stir and take off the heat.
Start layering your lasagna, first pour a little white sauce on the bottom of an oven proof dish and layer your sheets neatly to cover the base. Now pour some lamb sauce and a little more white sauce. Keep doing this until you fill your dish and finish your lamb sauce. Final layer should be of the lasagna sheets covered with the white sauce and sprinkle over the golden bread crumbs. Put in a preheated oven 190 degrees, middle shelf. Bake for about 35 minutes. Take out and leave to cool for 15 minutes before serving . Serve with garlic bread.

Pork and Bean Stew

Very little needed to cook this meal. But yet the flavours are big. I guarantee that all your family will love it. An affordable family meal. That you will cook over and over again. at first sight it won't look brilliant or the best meal ever, as it's not so colorful. You have to try it to prove me right.

Pork and Bean Stew

Ingredients

500g of pork fillet cut into cubes
1 onion
2 garlic cloves
4 sweet potatoes. ( around 350g)
2 tbsp of smoked paprika
1 bay leave
2 spring of rosemary
Olive oil
200 ml of white wine
800ml of vegetable stock
1 tin butter beans
1 tin haricot beans
Seasoning
1 tbsp plain flour

For the Salad

Ingredients

2 carrots
1/2 a red onion
1 gem lettuce
2 ripe vine tomatoes
1 tbsp of dijon mustard
1 tbsp red wine vinegar
Seasoning


Preparation Time: 15 minutes
Cooking Time : 2 hours
Total Time: 2 hours 15 minutes
Serves : 4
Level : Easy

Method

The stew

Mix the pork with some oil , paprika and seasoning. Leave to infuse for 10 minutes. Heat some more oil in a pot. Brown the pork all over, and just before putting it aside, add the flour to the pork and stir all very well before you put in a bowl on the side. Add a little more oil to the pan , and fry the onion and garlic, while scraping all the flavours off the bottom left from the pork. Add the wine and aliitle more paprika, cook away all the alcohol. Add the drained beans,bayleave, rosemary springs and the pork back to the pan. Add the stock and the sweet potatoes. Stir, bring to a boil , cover and leave to cook really slowly for about two hours. At the end you should have a nice thick stew. Fish out the stalks of the rosemary and the bayleave before serving.

The Salad

Grate the carrots. Roughly chop the gem lettuceand the tomatoes finley chop the onion, and combine it all in a salad bowl. In a seperate bowl add the mustard and the red wine vinegar together, with some seasoning. Stir in with your salad well so eveything is well flavoured.

Serve the salad along side your stew with some bread to mop all the sauce off your bowl .

Spaghetti Bolognese

I don't cook a lot of pasta , it's not so favourite around my house, but I was brought up with pasta. It was always a favourite for me, I was happy to eat pasta everyday . Pasta hasn't really got a big flavour to it. So you need a bit of ingredients to go with it and give a nice flavour , bulk it up and make interesting. You can cook it with pretty much anything. I think this traditional dish gives it all the flavors one can think of. I normally cook a big batch of it as it takes hours to cook. And freeze half of it , for another time. Just put a label and date on it and make sure you use it up within a month. Brilliant for when having a busy day , or maybe a lazy one ;)

Bolognese Sauce

Ingredients

500g of minced beef
2x tins of chopped tomatoes
2 onions
2 carrots
2 cloves of garlic
3 celery sticks
4 rashers of streaky bacon
1 tbsp tomato puree'
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp ground cinnamon
Olive oil
Seasoning
100ml of warm beef stock
1 spring of thyme
1 bay leave
Worcester Sauce

For the Spaghetti

200g of pasta
Parmesan
20g of butter
Olive oil


Preparation Time: 15 minutes
Cooking Time : 1hour 30 minutes
Total Time: Nearly 2 hours
Serves :6
Level: Easy

Method

Chop all the vegetables.I normally grate my carrots. It makes it easier for the kids to eat, You know kids sometimes can be picky and if they don't now it's there , then they'll eat it. Heat some oil in a pan big enough, for all your ingredients. Put all your vegetables in the pan and leave to cook for 10 minutes on a low flame, you don't want to caramelize your onions. Put the bacon and the mince in and turn the heat up. Brown all over . Add a good splash of Worcester sauce, Or wine maybe if you prefer. If I'm honest in a dish like this I see it a waste adding wine. Cook well and reduce by half. Add all your herbs and spices. Give it a good stir and cook for another minute. Add the tomatoes, the puree', the stock and a pinch of sugar. Bring to a boil and leave to cook for an hour 30 minutes.

Boil the spaghetti and drain. In the same pan melt the butter with a little oil.Take off the heat. Add the spaghetti back to the pan and cote well with the butter. Sprinkle a little Parmesan . Serve your spaghetti with the bolognese sauce and more Parmesan.

Side Root Vegetables (to serve with roast dinner)

We all love a roast dinner. But it's nice to keep a little interesting, vary the vegetables that you serve long, or maybe use the same ones and give them a little twist. Today I done a leg of lamb. But didn't put any work in that to be honest. I chucked it in the slow cooker first thing in the morning, and leave it too cook on medium for six hours. You can never go wrong , with any meat. So I had space in the oven for all the veggies then. Even time to play around and make different flavours.

For the Parsnips

Ingredients

5 big parsnips cut in quarters and lengthwise.
2 heaped tablespoons of plain flour
50g of Parmesan cheese
Seasoning
Olive oil

For the Carrots

5 big carrots
2 tbsp maple syrup
Thyme leave picked
50g Butter
Seasoning

For the Potatoes

8 big potatoes peeled and halved
2 table spoons of goose fat
2 springs of rosemary (picked and finely chopped)
Seasoning
Olive oil

Preperation Time: 45 minutes
Cooking Time : 1 hour
Total Time: Nearly 2 hours
Serves : 6
Level : Medium

Method

Potatoes

Preheat your oven on 200 degrees. Peel and chop all your vegetables. Start with the potatoes best, as they are the ones that take longer. Boil some water and put the potatoes in, boil until you can prick with a fork but not break. Strain and leave to steam dry in the colander for 5 minutes. In the meantime in an oven proof dish scoop out to heaped tablespoons of goose fat and in the dish. Put in the oven to melt. Take it out of the oven very carefully. This will be all bubbling and splashing. Add the potatoes to the dish . Cover in the goose fat and drizzle over some oil. Sprinkle the fine cut rosemary over , season and in the oven to bake for an hour. Or until the potatoes are brown all over. Half way through the cooking, take them out and turn them, so they have color all over.

Parsnips

Now for the parsnips, boil in some boiling water for about 3 minutes. Drain and leave to steam dry in the colander for 5 minutes. In a separate bowl mix the flour , Parmesan and seasoning together. Mix and coat well the parsnips in the flour mixture. And pile neatly flat next to each other in an oven proof dish. Bake in the oven with the potatoes on the top shelf for 45 minutes.

Carrots

Boil the carrots in some boiling water, until cooked to your desired likings. I like mine a little crunchy. Not too much thou. Drain and leave to drain and steam dry. When ready to serve put in a pan of melted butter and a splash of oil. Reheat and drizzle with the maple syrup , sprinkle the thyme leaves , season and serve.

Hearty Beef and Ale Stew

Very easy to prepare. It does take quite a lot of time to cook, but not much mess in the kitchen, or time to do it. Just chop some vegetables, chuck it all in a big pot and leave to cook for hours. I thing nothing beats a stew in these wet, cold winter days. You could even bulk it up a little with some dumplings. I'm not making them today in my stew, I went for an easier option, chop some fresh crusty bread, spread with a lot of butter and dip in your stew.

Beef and Ale Stew

Ingredients

3 carrots
2 celery sticks
1 big onion
2 cloves of garlic crushed
500g of stewing beef (cut in cubes)
500ml of ale beer
1 tin chopped tomatoes
1 tbsp tomato puree'
300ml of beef stock
2 bay leaves
2 springs of fresh thyme
Olive oil
2 tbsp of plain flour
Seasoning


Preparation Time: 15 minutes
Cooking Time: 3 hours
Total Time: £hours 15 minutes
Level: Easy
Serves two

Method

Chop all your vegetables. Leave all cut a bit chunky. As the stew will take hours to cook , you might end up with nothing in there, as it all melts and goes really tender. So if you leave it all a it chunky you can see the bits of carrots on your spoon , while eating. Put everything in the pot with the oil thyme and bay leaves. Leave to soften for about 10 minutes. In the meantime, season your meat. Now in with the meat and brown all over. When the meat is brown, add the flour and cook for another two minutes. Now it's time to add the ale, the chopped tomatoes and the puree. I add a pinch of sugar at this stage. Stir all well and add the beef stock. Bring everything to a boil and season. Put on a very low flame, cover and leave to cook for three hours. It will all look really liquidy at this stage, and a big portion. Bu this will all shrink away and thicken too. At this stage you can even decide to cook it in a slow cooker instead. The only difference is that you need to half all your liquids. The stock and the booze. Because it won't evaporate in there, therefore the result will be too liquidy for a stew.
Serve with warm bread and enjoy.

Chilli Con Carne

Who doesn't like a chili, that kick in your dinner. Well I know I do. I am a chili freak. I don't really feel the heat anymore. Luckily enough both my kids are OK with it. So I don't have any problem with spicy dinners. You can always avoid to put a chili in, maybe just a little a powder to give that light chili kick. Well a dollop of sour cream and guacamole works just fine with me.

Chili Con Carne

Ingredients

1 tin chickpeas
1 tin kidney beans
1 tin chopped tomatoes
1 onion
2 garlic cloves
2 small carrots
2 celery sticks
1 red pepper
1 chili (deseeded if you don't want to much spice)
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground chili

For the rice

1 cup of rice
2 knobs of butter
A drizzle of olive oil
Half the juice of a life
Seasoning

For the Jacket potatoes

2 jacket potatoes
Seasoning
Olive oil
Rosemary
A clove of garlic

Preparation Time: 30 minutes
Cooking Time: About 1 hour
Total Time: Over an hour

Method

Get all the ingredients ready. In a hot and sizzling pan fry the mince. This is done separately because of all the fat that comes out form the meat. Therefore it won't thicken well enough for you. When the mince is ready cooked, pick it up with a slotted spoon and put a side for a while. Remove all the fat from the pan. Add some more oil to the pan and add the onions . Soften for five minutes and the carrots and the celery. Cook away for another five minutes before adding the red pepper, the chili and the crushed garlic. Now add all the spices. Mix it all well and fry for 3 more minutes, or until all combined. Now drain the kidney beans and the chickpeas and into the pan with the rest of the vegetables, alongside with the chopped tomatoes. Fill the tin of your tomatoes with water and in the pan it goes. Stir it all and bring to boil. Leave uncovered and simmer on a low heat for about 45minutes to an hour , you want all the water to evaporate. If you think it' dry before taking time to cook away, add another splash of water to it. You want to cook well ,to release all the flavours.
For the jackets, stab all over and put in a microwave proof bowl. Add all the ingredients and cover with cling film. Put in the microwave for 15 minutes. Check them by stabbing them with knife before serving them. You want to make sure they are well cooked before you serve it.
For the rice , put it in a pan with all the ingredients and cover with water. Cover and cook for about 13 minutes, until all the water is evaporated.

 

Chicken and Chorizo Paella

This is a Spanish dish. I quite like to cook different cuisines . Makes dinner interesting . Well this dish is normally served with clams or some sort f other fish.  won't be adding any sort of seafood to my paella. But feel free to do it if you like it. I am not a fish eater at all. i know coming from a Country like Malta , surrounded by fish and lots of heritage about fisher man villages. But I just don't like it , not even the smell of it.

 

Chicken and Chorizo Paella and Bruschetta

For the Chicken and Chorizo
Ingredients

6 chicken legs on the bone

1 chorizo sausage, sliced
3 rashers of bacon

1 large onion finely chopped

3 garlic cloves, crushed
2 red peppers chopped
3 chillies seeds removed
2 tsp smoked paprika
1 litre warm chicken stock
300g paella rice
Oil

For the Bruschetta
Ingredients

1 ciabatta loaf
Olive oil
Cherry tomatoes
Red onion
2 garlic cloves
Mixed herbs

Preparation Time : 30 minutes
Cooking Time: 1 hour
Total time : 1 hour 30 minutes
Serves: 3-4
Level : Medium

Method

Get it all ready , so you won't forget anything . Well ideally you cook this in a paella dish. I don't have on so I used a big deep pan. Start browning by browning your chicken all over, and set aside. In the same pan fry the chorizo until nice brown and crisp all over, add the bacon half way so you crisp it as-well. There will be some vibrant colors in your pan and the smell in your kitchen , divine. Lower the heat and add the onion until soft about 3 minutes. Add the crushed garlic and cook for a further minute. Now the peppers paprika and chillies. Give it all a good stir, and return the chicken back to the pan. Simmer for 25 minutes. Add the paella rice , stir and cover tightly. Keep an eye on it as the water will be all absorbed and it might catch a little.

 

 

 

For the Bruschetta

Method

Cut the ciabatta loaf into little strips, rub it with a garlic clove , drizzle with some oil , sprinkle some mixed herbs and put in the oven for 6-8 minutes. In the meantime, chop your cherry tomatoes in quarters and finely chop the onion , put in a bowl with a drizzle of oil and seasoning , and serve along side with the bread and the Paella.

Beef Olives (Bragoli)

Today I decided to make justice to my country Malta. I am cooking a traditional Maltese dish. For some reason they are called beef olive. But they have absolutely nothing to do with olives. Basically it's frying steak , wrapped up and stuffed. It is cooked into a sort of stew.
It involves a bit of work to do it, but it is a good way to cook a cheap cut of meat. Well if you'd just fry it would be too tough to eat most of the times. At Least like this as it's cooked slowly , it has a much better bite to it! This is originally a Maltese recipe but there is also an Italian version to it.

Beef Olives (bragoli)

Ingredients

For the stuffing

6 slices of frying steaks (you could also use rump steak) But it works absolutely fine with frying steaks
250g of minced beef
3 rashers of streaky bacon
2 hard boiled eggs
1 grated carrot
4 handfuls of breadcrumbs. ( use fresh or a bit older bread works fine)
1 tsp mixed herbs
Some chopped parsley
Seasoning

For the sauce

1 big onion
3 cloves of garlic
1 tbsp tomato puree'
4 ripe tomatoes peeled and chopped
1 cup peas
1 large carrot chopped
4 small potatoes diced
A splash of Worcester sauce
2 bay leaves
beef stock ( enough to cover 2/3 )
A splash of red wine (optional)
2 tbsp bisto gravy granules

Preparation Time: Up to an hour
Cooking time : Up to an hour
Total Time : 2 hours

Method

First thing start buy putting your eggs in some boiling water and cook till hard. Leave for about 5 minutes . You need them hard boiled. Get all the ingredients of the stuffing ready. Mix it all together in a bowl . Combine well . Now get a bit of cling film, and on a wooden chopping board , put your meat , cover with the clingfilm and flatten as much as you can. Buy doing this to the meat, it will cook quicker as you larger the surface area . Be careful not to tear the eat otherwise you won't be able to roll it, and you will loose the filling from it.
When the meat is nice and flat , put about two spoon fulls of the stuffing and roll it into a sort of sausage. First fold a little the end and then roll it, so you secure all the filling tightly. Now you want to use some string to tie then up or toothpicks maybe. I used toothpicks. You should have around six beef olives in all. Now in a big frying pan, brown  the meat all over and set aside.
Now in the same pan soften the onion, and then add all the vegetables to the pan, some Worcester sauce, tomato paste and the stock. Bring to a boil and simmer for five minutes, and return the meat to the pan. Now cover and leave to cook on a low heat for 30 minutes. Keep an eye on it just to make sure it won't catch. Uncover and leave to cook for another 30 minutes. Towards the last ten minutes add the peas. Stir in some bisto granules until it's thick enough to your consistency. About two teaspoons. Dish up in a bowl , serve with some crust bread.

The Pleasures of Cooking: Chicken Chow Mien

The Pleasures of Cooking: Chicken Chow Mien: A classic Chinese dish one of the best know all over the world. Basically it's a stir-fry. But much much healthier when cooked at home. Fres...

Chicken Chow Mien

A classic Chinese dish one of the best know all over the world. Basically it's a stir-fry. But much much healthier when cooked at home. Fresh ingredients too! Chicken is quite a cheap meat to buy, and you can do so many things with it. Be creative as you like. You can serve it with noodles or maybe rice. Some prawn crackers on the side and maybe spring rolls. Just make look like a take away as much as possible.

Chicken Chow Mien

Ingredients

Noodles
4 chicken breast
A cup of gammon ham
50-80g mangetout
4-6 spring onions
Bean sprouts
2 cloves of garlic
6 tbsp of soy sauce
2 tbsp sherry
2 tbsp seaseme oil
Oil for fryng
2 tsp chinese five-spice


Preparation Time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 15-20 minutes
Total Time: 30 minutes
Serves :4
Level : Medium

Method

Cut your chicken into strips, and transfer into a bowl. Mix the sesame oil the sherry and the soy sauce together and then with the chicken. Stir it all well. Make sure all the chicken bits get coated and brown with sauce. Leave to marinate for 5-10 minutes. If you don't have don't worry , the chicken will soak up flavour anyway. Heat up some oil in a pan until bubbling. In with all the chicken and juices of the sauces. Cook the chicken trough and transfer back in the bowl. Leave aside. Cook your noodles following the packet instructions. Wipe your wok clean and put a little more in . Add you vegetables,garlic, ham and the five-spice mix. Fry for 3-5 minutes and in with the noodles. Heat the noodles trough , add a little splash of soy sauce. Add the chicken mixture and heat it all through. Serve immediately, while nice and hot.

The Pleasures of Cooking: Ricotta and Spinach filled Cannelloni

The Pleasures of Cooking: Ricotta and Spinach filled Cannelloni: This is a recipe that reminds dearly of my childhood. I remember it just like it was yesterday . When my mum used to make them me and my you...

Ricotta and Spinach filled Cannelloni

This is a recipe that reminds dearly of my childhood. I remember it just like it was yesterday . When my mum used to make them me and my younger sister always wanted to help her out filling them in. I always liked helping out in the kitchen and ask a lot of questions. It very simple to do . I can't wait till my kids are old enough and they can start making a bigger mess then I already do on my own in the kitchen . I don't know about you , but my man is always complaining there is a lot of washing up to do!! I don't think I am that bad thou .

Cannelloni

Ingredients

300g of cannelloni
250g spinach
Pinch of nutmeg
30g of fresh basil and stalks
2 tsp of dreid oregano
3 garlic cloves
300g of ricotta
2 knob of butter
Olive oil
500ml of creme fraiche'
Parmeasan
Mozarella balls
1 tin plum tomatoes
1 tin passata
Seasoning


Preparation time: 20 minutes
Cooking time: 40 minutes
Total time: about an hour
Serves : 4
Level : easy

Method

Chop you garlic (use half the chopped garlic, you will need the other half for the sauce later) and add to the hot pan with butter and oil. Add the oregano and nutmeg, give it a stir and add the spinach, little at a time if it doesn't all fit in the pan. It will wilt quickly. And will go down to a very small portion. Don't worry about that , it's normal and it will be enough. Put it aside , (it needs to cool down a little) in a bowl big enough , so later you can mix everything in.  Now start your tomato sauce. Use the rest of your garlic and add to the pan with a little more oil. Add the stalks of the basil (finely chopped) to the pan and in with the tomatoes. Bring to a boil , season and add a pinch of sugar. Just to cut that acidic taste of the tomatoes and balance a bit more the flavours. Leave it simmer until it's not too runny and watery. Goes a little thick, shouldn't take more then 10 minutes. You can now go back to the spinach that you left on the side to cool. Squeeze the liquid out of the spinach ( do not discard, leave the liquid in the bowl) . Transfer the spinach onto a chopping board and chop it . Bring back to the bowl with the liquid and the ricotta. Add some parmesan and mix it all together.
So by now the sauce should be ready. Leave it to cool , and start filling your cannelloni one by one. You could use a piping bag or maybe if you don't have one use a plastic bag, fill it with the mixture, cut one end corner of it and use it as a piping bag. I'm quite happy filling them with my hands. I tried using the bag but it just didn't work for me .
Pile them nicely one next to each other in the baking tray. If you have one big enough and you can pile them all flat in story would be better. I done a lot so I layered another level on top the bottom one. Cover with the tomato sauce and mix it well so that even the bottom once are covered in the sauce. Now the creme fraiche' , spoon it on top of everything. I use creme fraiche' ins read of besciamella sauce. This is a very rich and filling this. So the besciamella makes it even richer. On the plus side creme fraiche' is even healthier and less fatty. Sprinkle some parmesan cheese , pepper and the mozzarella balls.

Bake in the oven 1800 degrees for about 25-30 minutes.

Ice Cream Cake with Lemon curd and Meringues

Eveyone likes ice cream, no doubt about that. But no one dares to make as it takes so much time if you don't have an ice cream machine. Well guess what, this is so easy to make, you will definitely be tempted to give it a shot. It's done in minutes. With as simple as 5 ingredients . You can whip up with different ingredients if you like to your taste and imagination. I love doing this recipe as it's nice to have a dessert in your freezer. Even if you have guests, or simply you feel like a treat, you know you have it! It's called ice cream cake, as it will have the shape of a vienetta , and you can cut it in slices and serve with a chocolate sauce, some fruit or maybe even both.

Ice-Cream Cake

Ingredients

300ml of double cream
8 nests of meringues
3 tbsp of sugar
4 tbsp of lemon curd
Rind (skin) of 1 lemon

Will serve about 6 slices
Level : easy
Preperation time: 10 minutes
Setting time: over night

Method

Get a mixing bowl big enough to fit all the ingredients. Pour the double cream in. Add the sugar and whip it till nice and stiff. You canuse an electric whipper, easier and quicker. But if you don't have one you can do it by hand. Easy enough. Just whip as hard as you can. Now get the meringues and crmble them to bits , and in with the cream they go. Add the lemon cur and the lemon ring mix it all trough , and there you go! Done. Pour it into a dish. I cover the bottom with cling film and then with the ends cover the top. So then when set you just pull it all out easliy with the cling film. If you don't use the cling film you won't easily take it out without breaking it. And it doesn't look so nice when served.

Ice-cream befor set.

Ice-cream ready to eat

A very light block, with a delicious lemony taste and crunch of the meringues with a creamy texture.

 

Roasted Duck

I love duck. I have to say the meat is rally good. I'm not quite into sweetness with food, I know most people will eat with orange or some sort of other fruit. I like to keep it simple. The flavours that come out of it are just fine for me!

Roasted Duck

1 duck 1.5 kilos
Seasoning

 

I served mine with some caramelized carrots, green beans, roast potatoes and broccoli. Made some gravy out of the juices of the duck

Place your duck in a baking dish , but on a wire rack. You need to do this so the fat will drip down in the dish and the duck won't keep cooking in all the fat. Prick your duck all over , season well with salt and pepper, put in a preheated oven 180 degrees. Best to put it in the middle of the oven for a best result. Cook the duck 20 minutes for every 500g plus an extra 20 minutes.

When it ready , take out the oven cover with foil and leave to cool for 10-15 minutes. In the meantime, you can do your gravy. Pour out all the fat form the dish, and put on the hob on a medium heat. Scrape all the flavours and juices that come out of the duck with a wooden spoon, add a table spoon of flour, and about 500ml of warm vegetable stock. leave to simmer for a few minutes until it's thick enough.

Serve your duck wit vegetables of your likings

Roast Pork Belly and cabbage

Pork is one of my favorite meats. Pork belly is a bit like u have a big chunk of bacon. It is quite fatty, but delicious. Definitely not good for a frequent meal. This is the second time I'm cooking it. But it is the first time I'm doing it a whole big chunk, the other time I had bought it as slices. As you might have noticed I do a lot of roasting. It's so easy and the food comes out so good. Can't beat a roast.

Total time: 2 hours 5 minutes
Preparation Time: 30-40 minutes
Cooking Time: 2 hours
Serves : 4
Level : easy

Roasted Pork Belly

Ingredients

Pork belly (about 2 kilos)
Salt & pepper
Maple syrup

For the Cabbage and Bacon

Ingredients

1/2 a medium cabbage
4 slices of bacon
2 cloves of garlic
2 tbsp Worcester sauce
180ml of warm vegetable stock
Seasoning

For the Onion Rings

Ingredients

1 big round onion
1 egg
90ml of very cold water
1 tbsp of plain flour
Seasoning
Oil for deep frying

To serve

4 corn on the cob
Savoury rice

Method

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees. Get a dish big enough to hold your pork. Season well with salt and pepper and put in the oven for nearly two hours. Follow instruction to the weight of your pork. To make sure it's cooked through and the fat on top goes nice and crunchy ( crackling). Just 5 minutes before taking it out drizzle some maple syrup on top and leave for the last 5 minutes.
While that is cooking away in the oven. Chop your cabbage in nice thin slices. Chop your bacon in small little bits. Fry the bacon in a little oil till nice and crunchy all over. When nearly done add the garlic fry for another minute and add the Worcester sauce. Now is time to add the cabbage. Stir it all well and the stock. Leave to cook covered for 5-6minutes. Uncover and cook until the water is all evaporated. Season to your taste and serve warm.
Now the onion rings. Start with making the batter. Beat an egg, pour in the cold water , stir in the flour and there u have your batter. Season well and set aside until you cut the onion. Peel it and leaving it whole , cut about 1 cm thick rings. Separate the rings from each other carefully. you will be surprised by how many you will have off one large round onion. Dip in the batter and then in your very hot oil. Leave to brown all over.

Dish up and enjoy. I served mine with some corn on the cob and savoury rice. The belly is fatty enough , so I avoided potatoes for today.

Roasted Guinea Fowl with a Whiskey Sauce and Roasted Mediterranean Vegetables

This Guinea Fowl has been on my mind for ages. I like to try new things. I've tried other birds before and I always liked their flavour. So last weekend while doing the shopping my man gr abed one and put it in the trolley! He said there, your wish is granted . So I get to cook it and eat it today. I'm in the process at the minute so I have no idea of the out come just yet. I promise I will try to explain the flavour and how it turned out at the end of my recipe . I will also do my best to remember and upload a picture to this meal. Well that is if I'm not to tipsy to remember later. It's Friday I'm allowed to an extra glass of wine.


Total Time: Over an hour
Preparation Time: 20 minutes
Cooking Time: 65 minutes
Serves: 2-4
Level : Medium

Roasted Guinea Fowl with a Whiskey Sauce and Roasted Mediterranean Vegetables

Ingredients

For the Guinea Fowl

1 Guinea Fowl (about 1 kilo)
olive oil
seasoning

For the Mediterranean Vegetables

1 green pepper
1 yellow pepper
1 crogette
1 carrot
1/2 a red onion
3 garlic clove crushed
1 tomato
Olive oil
Oregano
Thyme
Seasoning

For the Whiskey Sauce

100 ml of double cream
100ml of vegetable stock
80ml of whiskey

Method

Put the Guinea Fowl in a tray brush it with olive oil and season. And put in a preheated oven 200 degrees for 65 minutes.
For the roasted med veggies. Chop it all up , and put in a baking dish that fits it all. drizzle with oil, season and sprinkle the oregano on top. Bake in the oven with your Guinea Fowl for 40 minutes
If you are doing roasted potatoes to serve on the side like I am, put them in the oven at the same time of the Guinea Fowl.
For the Whiskey Sauce. When the Guinea Fowl is ready, leave to rest in a warm place, I cover it with foil and leave it in an open oven. Take the tray , remove any excess fat, and put on the hob. Scrape the flavours from the dish and add the whiskey to it. Bring to a boil and reduce by a quarter. Add the stock and cream and bring to a boil again and simmer for 2 minutes. Take off the heat and blend with a hand blender, and pour into a gravy bowl . Instead of blending you could sift it trough a fine sieve.
take your Guinea Fowl and carve, serve with Roasted Potatoes, Med Veggies and the sauce !!


N.B : As I promised the pictures are underneath , and it tasted nice, but no different to chicken in my opinion. My man was a bit disappointed he said. '' Next time I'll buy  chicken.''
 If it wasn't for the rich sauce you would have never thought it was a different meal!

Baked chicken legs with garlic gravy

Well this was an easy dinner, but yet delicous , every one emptied their plates. That is always a good result to the chef . Chicken is easy to cook, cheap to buy and nearly everyone likes it. Not much flavour to it, so doing a gravy gives it a little boost , so you can give some work to your taste buds.


Preparation Time: up to 30 minutes
Cooking time : 45 minute to an hour
Total Time: up to 1 hour 30 minutes
Serves 3-4
Level : medium

Baked Chicken Legs with a Garlic Gravy and Cauliflower Cheese

Ingredients, For the Chicken legs

6 chicken legs
Seasoning
1 onion

For the garvy

1 whole bulb of garlic wrapped in foil and heads cut.
Chicken dripping
500ml of hot vegetable stock
1 tbsp of melted butter
1 tbsp of plain flour

For the Cauliflower Cheese

1/2 a large cauliflower
100 ml of double cream
bread crumbs for topping
100g of mexican cheese
100g + 100g cheddar cheese
3 rashers of bacon cooked
olive oil

Method

Lay your chicken legs in a baking tray, cover with oil and season. Cut an onion in quarters and put with the chicken, and stick your garlic bulb wrapped in foil in the baking dish with your chicken. Put in a preheated oven 180 degrees and cover tightly with foil for 30 minutes. Uncover after 30 minutes and leave to brown and go crispy about another 30 minutes.
Get your cauliflower and boil for five minutes. Stick it in a small dish and mix with the bacon , 100g cheddar and Mexican cheese. Drizzle over your double cream and some olive oil. Cover the top with the rest of your cheddar and some breadcrumbs, season and drizzle a little bit more olive oil.
Put in the oven with the chicken for about 30-40 minutes just make sure the top is nice and brown.
For the gravy, Take your chicken out, and put to one side and cover with some foil . Put the baking dish on the stove, on a low flame. In a bowl mix your melted butter with the flour, and start pouring it in the baking dish slowly, mix it all up and add your stock. (you should have the onion in there too , that was cooking in with the chicken.) Now get your garlic bulb, take out of the foil and squeeze the garlic out into the mixture. stir it all , and give everything a good blend with a hand blender. When the gravy is thick enough pour into a gravy bowl and serve in the middle of your table.

I served mine with some mash and green bean. But you can uise some savoury rice instead of the potatoes for a healthier version.

That's the picture of the bulb of garlic for the gravy, before put in the raosting tray .

Minced Beef Wellington and French Potatoes

I always wanted to do a wellington, ideally I would of rather done a fillet beef one. But it's so expensive now a days to buy such a big cut of fillet, and then cook it in pastry? Nah i would rather eat as nice big chunky steaks . So doing it with mince still gives me the challenge. Well you could call a giant Cornish pasti maybe or even a pie that looks like a sausage , that's the truth behind after all. Well it turned out nice, w all enjoyed it eating it and the best part of all , I enjoyed cooking it.

Minced beef Wellington

Ingredients

500g puff pastry
500g mince
1 cup peas
1 big carrot
1 onion
2 celery sticks
2 cloves of garlic
a handful of chestnut mushrooms
2 small potatoes
Fresh Rosemary finely chopped
Plain flour for dusting
Seasoning
2 eggs


Preparation time: up to an hour
Cooking time : 1 hour
Total time : 2 hours
Serves : 5-6
level: Medium/hard

Method

I chopped my vegetables all very finely. This will determine your cooking time. So you want to make sure this is cooked all over and nice and soft. So try to do your best with the chopping. I'm no chef, so i don't really have excellent skills but I do manage to do it quite well.
Add some oil to the pan. Add all your veggies and chopped rosemary except the peas.I think rosemary is and essential herb here. It gives a nice flavour. Well it is my favorite herb and I use in most of my dishes, it's so easy to grow , so I have it in my garden. Fry them on a low flame until soft and lightly browned. Add the peas and leave it to cook for another minute or two. Take off the heat and put in a bowl, leave it cool for an hour or so, it need to be completely cool before you wrap it up in the pastry. Otherwise your pastry won't hold at all it will collapse.
When it's completely cool mix the mince to the mixture and a beaten egg. Now you need to stick your hands in and combine the mixture. You could use a spoon but it doesn't work as good as your hands I'm afraid. Leave to one side for a minute until you roll the pastry out an a clean surface . You need it big enough to fit in all your mixture, and to fit in your baking dish. It needs to look a bit like a rectangle. Bring the longest side of the pastry right in front of you. With a brush go around it with the beaten egg. This will work like glue. Now on the edge in front of you get the mixture and put it down in a sausage shape. Roll it out with the pastry to the other end. Like rolling a pin forward, make sure you close the ends tightly. Bake in a preheated oven 180 degrees for an hour , on a low shelf. It needs to go nice and brown .

Baked French Potatoes

Ingredients

4-5 potatoes
1-2 onions
3 garlic cloves
Mixed herbs (dried)
olive oil
Vegetable stock
Seasoning

Total time: 1 hour 10 minutes
Preparation time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 1 hour
Serves : 4-5
Level : easy

Method

Slice you onion and garlic and with a tsp of mixed herbs in , fry very gently for 5-6 minutes. This will give you time to peel and slice your potatoes. Slice them quite thin and try to get them the same thickness all over. Get a small dish but big enough to fit all your potatoes, I used a small tart dish. Plus it looks nice even when served on the table. I like to leave it in the middle so everyone can help themselves . Start with covering the bottom of the dish with potatoes, and then sprinkle some of the onion mixture. You want to layer it like lasagna sort of it, a layer of each, top layer will be potatoes. Cover the potato mixture with hot stock. Seal with some foil and in the oven for 40 minutes covered. Take out and remove the foil and in for another 30 minutes.
Use 180 degrees preheated oven and top shelf.

Note: You want to put the potatoes in the oven at least 15 minutes before the wellington. As they might take longer to brown. But remember this is only guidelines as different oven and appliances may vary . I served mine with some steamed broccoli and cauliflower.

Lamb Madras (leftovers)

Sunday leftovers. Never waste any of it! I cooked lamb , so I had quite a bit of meat left. Saved it in the fridge. This works out fantastic with a curry, Plus it's effort less cooking.
I'm using a madras , ready made paste this time. But you could use a Rogan Josh maybe if you fancy!

Lamb Madras

Total time : 1 hour 45 minutes
Preperation time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: 1hour 30 minutes
Serves: 4-5
Level easy

Ingredients

Left over lamb about 400g
Butternut squash
Cauliflower
1*400g tin chickpeas
1*400g tin chopped tomatoes
1 onion
2 garlic cloves crushed
3-4 Tbsp of Madras paste
1 lime to serve
Poppadoms or naan bread to serve

Rice (side dish)

Ingredients

1-2 cups of rice
Olive oil
A knob of butter
1 tsp cumin seeds
2 tsp ground coriander
2 cardamom pods
1/2 tsp turmeric
500ml of vegetable stock

Method

Always start by getting all your things to hand, and what ever needs chopping . I like my vegetables chunky, as this will cook for a while and they might disintegrate and go all squashed when you stir. So now that everything is prepared, you can start your curry. Get a good sized pan to fit all your ingredients. Add two lugs of oil. Saute your onion a little till soft but not caramelized. Add the vegetables, and the paste. Cook and combine for a further 3 minutes. Chickpeas and chopped tomatoes go in next. You can now add the lamb in. (you can easily leave it without , and do a vegetable madras instead). But we do love our meats. Add enough water to cover everything. Bring to a boil and cover on a low heat for 30 minutes. Uncover and leave to cook for another 45 minutes or more if needed. Until everything is cooked and the sauce is well reduced and thick.

For the rice

Soak your rice in cold water. Or if you don't have time rinse it well under running water in a sifter. This will help you remove the starch. Your rice will cook nice and fluffy and all the little grains will be nice and loose. Add the rice to a pot with all the ingredients above , cover and leave to cook for about 12-15 minutes until the water has all evaporated.
You can cook your rice with any other flavours you fancy. When cooking the rice like this anything that you put in the pan will infuse with the rice, so it will give it a nice flavour.

Serve your curry with this rice on the side, lime wedges and some poppadoms

Lasagna

Another week another day! I am going to cook an all time classic today Lasagna . Probably you all already now how to cook it ! But I'm not here to teach you , just to share and chat with my readers. This is one of my few different recipes of lasagna. I like to keep lively in my kitchen. I hate eating the same dinners. Plus I do like to spend time in the kitchen and experiment, even challenge myself. Being at home all day gives me a lot of time to do this.

 I will always remember the first time . When my man first moved to live with me .
 This is the dish I cooked that first day. It's definitely a crowd pleas-er this dish. I didn't now him that well,not sure what he like to eat normally and his taste buds. So I was sure to make the right move ;) and I did! Lasagna hardly ever fails.

Total time: 1hour 15 minutes
Preparation time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: About an hour
Serves 4-5
Level : medium

Lasagna

Ingredients

500g of minced beef
1 onion
1 carrot
2 celery sticks
1 clove of garlic
2 * 400g of chopped tomatoes
1 tbsp of tomato puree'
Worcester sauce
Olive oil
Oregano
A pinch of nutmeg
Seasoning

For the besciamella sauce

100g flour
100g butter
1 liter of milk
A pinch of nutmeg
Pepper
Parmesan



In a hot pan , add some oil. Now add the vegetables , and live to cook for about 10 minutes on a low heat.
Turn your oven at 190 degrees.
Turn you heat up. Add your mince in the pan with the vegetables, make sure you cook it trough, nice and brown all over. Add a generous splash of Worcester sauce , and leave to evaporate for another 3 minutes. You could use a splash of red wine instead. I don't really like to waste my wine in food. So Worcester sauce does the trick for me ;). Add your chopped tomatoes, puree', oregano and nutmeg. Stir and combine all the ingredients together, bring to a boil and leave to simmer uncovered until you start with your besciamella sauce. In a pan melt your butter, add the flour and cook for a minute or less. Add the milk little by little.  Cook until thick , add a pinh of nunmeg , balck pepper and good grate of Parmesan. Take off the heat and leave to cool.
Time to assable your lasagna together. Get a good sized dish. cover the bottom with some beciamella sauce, and layer your first layer of pasta sheets. Use some of your red sauce to cover the sheets, and a little more white sauce, sprinkle some Parmesan . Add repeat again, until you finish yor sauces and fill the dish. The top layer , put some sheets and cover them with white sauce. Bake on the lowest shelf of the oven for about 40 minutes.
Take it out and leave to rest for 10/15 minutes before serving!

 

Rump Steak and Chips

Very easy to prepare and yet such a satisfying and posh dinner. Rump is quite a good cut of meat, but you don't pay as much as for a sirloin or a fillet. It's a  Saturday night dinner for two :] So my man decided to surprise me with a nice steak.

Steak and Chips

Prepartion : 10 minutes
Cooking time : 30 minutes
Total time: 40 minutes
Serves 2
Level : medium

Ingredients

2 rump steaks (200g each)
Asparagus
Pancetta
chips
Carrots
Butter
Bread and butter to serve


I used some oven chips. Preheat the oven and follow the instruction on the pack to cook.
Wrap the asparagus in pancetta , bundles of three. Drizzle with some olive oil and bake in the oven for ten minutes with your chips.
Peel and chop you carrots boil , drain and saute in some butter. I like mine with a little crunch to them!
Rest your meat for at least 10 minutes at room temperature before cooking. Drizzle some oil on the and season well on both sides.
Put them in hot dry pan . Sear them on both sides on a high heat, and then cook for four minutes on each side on a moderate heat. (the thickness of the meat might cook in different times, and appliances vary too.) Set a side in a warm place for 2/3minutes.
Add some butter to your pan with the juices of the meat. Pour onto the meat and serve along side with the chips , carrots and aspagargus. Maybe a nice glass of red wine.

Roast Shoulder of Lamb With a Crushed swede and Parsnip Crumble

Sunday again , and as always it's another roast dinner. Today we have a shoulder of Lamb. But it was too big to go in the slow cooker so I decided to use the oven. To go with it I will do roast potatoes and carrots, with a crushed swede and parsnip crumble.

Preparation time: 1 hour
Cooking time:  2hour 30minutes
Total time: up to 3 hours.
Serves 4
Level : medium/hard

For the Shoulder of Lamb

Ingredients

1 shoulder of lamb (2 kilos)
Rosemary
oil
seasoning
a bulb of garlic
Dried oregano


Score the lamb with a sharp knife and cover in some oil.  Put on the baking dish . shake some oregano on top and season. Put the rosemary and garlic on top of it. And cook in the oven for about 2hours 30 minutes.

For the crushed swede and parsnip crumble

Ingredients

1 medium swede
4 parsnips
8 rashers of pancetta
Seasoning
Oil
Thyme
4 tbs maple syrup
Bbreadcrumbs
2 cloves of garlic
A good grate of Parmesan
A pinch of nutmeg

For the cheese sauce

 25g butter
25g plain flour
425ml milk
150g of cheddar cheese

In the mean time you can prepare your vegetables. I started with the crushed swede . Peel your parsnips and swede and boil them until soft enough to mash.

For the cheese sauce.
Melt the butter in the pan and add the flour to it.( you want to use the same amount of butter and flour, like this it won't be lumpy) Gradually start adding the milk and keep stirring . On a moderate heat. When thick enough add a pinch of nutmeg and the cheese, keep on a low heat and check if it tastes cheesy enough. Set aside for a little while, so you can mash up the vegetables .

Take the vegetables and drain. Mash them up. Add the maple syrup and crushed garlic. Now it's time to add the pancetta or streaky bacon. (fry it a bit before , so that's it a little crispy) You might want to cot each strip in thirds. Mix everything with the cheese. Put in a baking dish.
Now for the topping. In a small bowl add some oil , thyme and breadcrumbs. Mix well and top on your bake. sprinkle some Parmesan , and it would do with a few of butter knobs. Bake in a preheated oven 180 degrees for 40 minutes .

For the Gravy

Ingredients

1 tbsp of red wine vinegar
500ml of chicken stock
1 tbsp of plain flour


Take the lamb out of the oven and leave to rest on a wooden chopping bored , cover with some foil so that it stays warm.
Get the baking tray you had the lamb in, take away the rosemary stalk and pour half the fat away. Put it on the hob , add a tablespoon of plain flour to it and 500ml of warm chicken stock. Bring to  boil and leave to simmer until nice and thick.
Serve in a gravy bowl.

Dish up all your dinner in plates. Or maybe in the middle of the table of the others to help themselves
 Serve with roast potatoes ,roast carrots and some steamed broccoli. Maybe Yorkshire puddings!

A Yummy Curry Feast

It's Friday again . The week just goes by so quick . I have finally sorted my next weeks menu too. Normally I would be sorted by Wednesday. I was a bit blank this week. Not going to tell you for now thou .
Let me tell you a bit more about it. I keep a diary and every week I write down all the meals Monday to Sunday . Next to it I add the shopping list , this helps me prevent from forgetting to buy something I will need in the week. It helps me a lot being organized. In the morning I just open my diary , look what's on the menu for the day , and double check I got everything for to. Then take the meats out of the freezer and leave it till later  for when it's time to cook .
This saves me a job of waking up in the morning and thinking what to cook. Before I started this routine  I used to have a whole big headache until I make up my mind , sometimes I would even dream about it . I now I may sound a bit silly , but I just need a plan for everything, a bit of a freak.


Today's menu
Aromatic curry
Pulao (rice)
Spiced potato cakes

As you have al guessed by now I love spiced up food, chillies and curries . I just think that food is tasteless without a little kick to it . I t just gives your dishes a whole new world of flavours.

Total time: 2 hours
Preparation time:  30 minutes
Cookking time: 1hour 30 minutes
Level:  Medium
Serves 3

For the Aromatic Beef Curry 

Ingredients

500g cubed beef

olive oil

3 garlic cloves

1 tsp ground cumin, coriander, turmeric, black pepper, ginger and chilli powder.

3 cardamom pods 

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1 tin chopped tomatoes

pinch of sugar

plain white yoghurt to serve 

Start with browning your meat al over and set aside. Fry the onion and garlic for about 5 minutes. Add all spices with the onion and garlic. Stir it well and cook for a further 2 minutes , all this is being done on a low flame. At this point the smell in your kitchen will be heavenly . Bring the meat back to the pan . Add the tomatoes , and fill your empty tin with water and tip in with the rest . Bring to a boil ,add a pinch of sugar cover and leave simmer for at least an hour and a half. Like this all the flavours come out . When ready to serve add a spoonful of plain yoghurt .

For the Spiced Potato Cakes

Ingredients

5  medium potatoes

4 green chillies seeds on ( if you don't want it too hot then remove the seeds)

2 tsp ground cumin

2 tsp mango chutney 

Oil for frying

Peel and boil the potatoes . Boil them , until tender enough to to mash. In the mean time chop your chillies and chuck in a bowl big enough that can take the mash in it too. Add the spice and chutney. Drain your potatoes and in the bowl with the rest of the ingredients. Combine everything all together. Make them into 6 balls and flatten on a clean surface . Shallow fry them . Make sure they are golden brown on both sides. 

Tip: Make sure you fry them in a non stick pan !

For The Pulao

 Ingredients

Some vegetable oil

1 onion

1 garlic clove

1 carrot grated

1 big cup of rice

1 tsp cumin seeds

2 tsp ground coriander

3 cardamom pods

500ml of vegetable stock

bay leave

Seasoning

Soak your rice first in water. Leave it for at least 30 minutes. This will help remove all the starch , and you will have lovely fluffy rice instead of stodgy :) 

In a pan fry the onion , garlic and carrot until soft. In with your drained rice, bay leave, cardamom pods, cumin seeds,and ground coriander . Keep frying for a minute and stir well before you put in the stock. Give another stir and cover. Leave to cook until your rice is cooked trough. Remove from the heat and remove the bay leave and cardamom pods. Best to use a fork to fluff the rice and not squash it. 

 Serve it all up in the middle of the table with some popadoms and naan bread! Maybe a nice pickle if you fancy it.
Let everyone enjoy and share .

Chicken, Leek and Gammon Pie

I normally do a chicken and leek pie, and sometime I add some bacon to it. But i had left quite a bit of Gammon from Sunday's roast dinner . And I have people joining us for dinner today , so I want to bulk it up my pie. I always find a good way to use my lest overs. Saves some money to ! I also do this pie with left over roast chicken. I can assure you that anyone would love the result of that. Worth a try.


Total time: 1hour 30 minutes
Preparation time: 15 minutes
Cooking time : 1 hour 15 minutes
Serves 5-6
Level : Medium

Ingredients

4 chicken breast
400g cooked gammon
5 leeks
3 Tbsp plain flour
1 vegetable stock cube
thyme
seasnoning
2 tsp Dijon mustard
Ready rolled puff pastry
1 egg for brushing

Side dish (glazed carrots)
5 carrots
seasoning
knob of butter
olive oil
1 tbsp sugar
a pinch of dried chillies
1 vegetable stock cube

boiled peas


Add some butter to pan and start heating up, add a splash of oil to it, so that u prevent from burning the butter. Turn the heat down and put the leeks in, cote well with the butter and cover for 10 minutes until soft. You might want to keep an eye on them just in case they catch for you. Put aside, turn the heat up add a little bit more oil to the pan and add your chicken .  Add the thyme and season , cook through . Add the flour and tip the leeks back in the pan along with your gammon. Stir in the Dijon mustard. Add your stock, bring to a boil and simmer until nice and thick. Tip it in a baking dish , cover with the puff pastry . Beat an egg and brush you pastry for a nice golden color . Prick a little hole in the middle of the pie , so that the heat can come out.
Bake in a pre heated oven 180 degrees for 35/40 minutes on a low shelf.

For the glazed carrots

I chopped my carrots in quarters , lengthwise.
Melt some butter in a pan, tip the carrots in along with the chillies and seasoning . Add the stock, but don't drown the carrots hardly cover the. Cover and leave them cook until tender. You want all the water evaporated . Add the sugar and cook for another 3 minutes uncoverd .


Leave your pie to rest for 10 minutes before you start dishing up. Dish up your pie with the carrots and some peas.

Pork Goulash

This meal is a first time for me. But I like to try new things. Plus it is easy and quick. I am going to use a slow cooker as I am quite a fan . I find it so good to use. especially when I have hings to or places to go. I come back and dish up for everyone instead of start to cook. It's an essential in my kitchen.

Pork Goulash is a  Hungarian pork stew.


Total time: up to 8 hours
Preparation time : 30 minutes
Cook time : slow cooker 6-8hours on low,  In the oven 1 1/2 hours, on the hob for 3 hours.
Level : easy
serves 4

Ingredients

450g pork fillet
2 green peppers
1 onion 2 garlic cloves
1tsp oregano
3 tbsp smoked paprika
1 tin plum tomatoes
3 ripe tomatoes
1tsp red wine vinegar
2tbsp plain flour
seasoning
100ml beef stock
2 rd chillies deseeded


To Serve

Creamy mash
Bread



Chop everything . Get your chopped pork and mix with flour paprika and season. Add in a pan with some oil and brown all over. You would be better doing this on a high heat. Set aside until you saute the onion and garlic in the same pan with a little bit more oil but turn the heat right down.Using the same pan all the juices and flavours of the pork get in the onions. Leave for 5 minutes and add the peppers, tomatoes and the chillies in. Cook for another minute or two. Add the oregano. A little splash of the red wine vinegar and leave it all cook away before you put in the tinned plum tomatoes and the stock. Bring the pork back to the pan and simmer uncovered for 10 minutes. Tip it all in the slow coocker and leave on the low setting for 6/8 hours.

You then have all the time u want to do everything else and the all the house cleaning. Maybe go out and have a cappucino.
This meal is meant to be low calorie, but not with the mash and bread on the side ;)
You can have it with a dolop of  plain yogurt instead.
I quite like my carbs , so mash and bread will do me fine .

Vegetable cheese soup and Ravioli

I am another day late!
I had such a busy day yesterday , two kids :] They are a handful.
Soup is always nice for a cold day . Warms you up a little. And if you do a big batch , you can always freeze it in portions and have it for lunch during the week.



Total time: 45 mins
Preparation time: 15 min
Cooking time:  30 mins
serves 6
Level: easy

Ingredients

Half a cauliflower
Half a broccoli
2 carrots
2 celery sticks
1 onion
1 potatoe
150g of cheddar cheese
1 tbsp English mustard
1 litre vegetable stock
seasoning
olive oil
crusty bread
panchetta or streaky bacon rashers



Chop all your vegetables . Don't need to worry how they are chopped as you are going to mush it all up later with a hand blender. But remember the smaller your pieces the quicker it all cooks.
In a pot big enough add some oil and throw all your vegetables in , leave to cook for about 10 minutes on a low flame half covered with a lid.
When soft enough add your warm stock in and season . Simmer for another 15 minutes.  Take off the heat and with a hand blender , liquidize it . When ready to serve fry your panchetta until crispy . Put the soup back on the hob ( for about 5 minutes) add the cheese and mustard in , stir it until all combines.
Serve into bowls and top with two panchetta slices on each bowl. serve with some crusty bread with butter. I can assure you that this turns out delicious .


I used the soup as a starter and done some ravioli with a tomatoe sauce. Quick and easy but good flavours.



Total time: 30 minutes
Preparation time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 20 minutes (maximum)
Level : easy
Serves 4

Ingredients

1 red onion
4 garlic cloves
1 sweet red pepper bell
1 passata
1 tsp sugar
1tsp oregano
1 tsp Italian herbs
1 tsp hot curry powder
A splash of red wine
olive oil



Get it all ready . Chop all your vegetables. In a pan drizzle the oil and on a low flame. Add the onions and garlic. Leave to saute for about 4 minutes. Now in with the pepper. Cook for a further 5 minutes . Add a splash of wine and leave to cook until it's all evaporated. Add the passata ( sieved tomatoes, or tomato juice ) . In with your herbs , spice and sugar. Bring to boil and simmer for 5 minutes.

I used ravioli , but you can use any other pasta of your desire. It works quite good with all types. Grate some parmesan and enjoy !

Bonfire Night Special

As you all now it's the 5th of November and that means one thing. Bonfire night or fireworks night.
So I will keep my dinner with the theme. I nomally cook pasta on Mondays but I'm making an exeption just for today.

So it's going to be An apple caramel crumble and
Hot dogs with sweet potatoes wedges.


I hope I inspire some of you :)
Lets get started with our yummy apple and caramel crumble.




Total time: 1 hr 15 mins
Preparation time: 30 mins
Cooking time: 45 mins
Level: Medium
Serves : 6

Ingredients

For the crumble

300g of plain flour
175g brown sugar
200g unsalted butter (cubed and at room temperature)
a pinch of cinnamon

For the filling

4 bramley apples
50g brown sugar
1Tbsp of flour
cinnamon
1 tbsp of pure juice ( you can use any flavour u got)

For the caramel sauce

200g caster sugar
50g golden caster sugar
140 ml double cream
50g butter
4 Tbsp of water
1tsp vanilla extract


Start with the caramel sauce as you need it to cool down before using it . prepare all the ingredients ready and handy to use. Using a stainless steel pot ( this helps to see the color change in the caramel)
Tip all the sugar in and the water and start heating gently. Don't stir it very often and keep an eye on it so that you don't burn it. It will take about 5 mins. Take off the heat and add the butter and cream to it. Stir it in gently and leave on the side to cool.

Preheat the oven on 180 degrees
Get the crumble started, Tip all the  in a bowl and assemble together so that it looks like bread crumbs. And set aside to prepare your apples.
Peel and core the apples and chop in 1 cm cubes. Get your baking dish . In it tip the apples alongside with the flour, juice sugar and cinnamon. stir it so that it is all evenly spread . pour over the caramel sauce and cover with the crumble.
Bake for about 45 minutes.

Ideally served warm, and maybe wit some clotted cream or vanilla ice cream.

Roast dinner always a winner

Sunday Roast

This has to be the best meal ever. In my opinion. Such a little effort to prepare and yet such a satisfaction when eating.  So I try keep my Sunday's traditional. The kids love it too , so that's a big win in my house.

I try to buy a different piece of roasting joint , so that it's a little different. This week we had a nice good quality Gammon joint.

Normally people would say that a roast takes half their day in the kitchen. But I find it easy quick and I can do what ever I want without worrying for my joint. I put in a slow cooker early morning and leave it cook for up to eight hours on low. Even if you have a cheap cut of meat, surprisingly it always turns out delicious and tender.

About an hour and a half before the joint is ready I start the vegetables. You can easily do any vegetables you fancy. Most favorites and common are carrots parsnips, broccoli , cauliflower and potatoes.


Total time: 9hrs 30 mins
preperation time: 1hr and 30min
cooking time: 8 hours
Level: easy
serves: 4

Ingredients

Gammon joint
8 roasting potatoes
2 big carrots
4 parsnips
few broccoli florets
few cauliflower florets
rosemary
olive oil
1Tbsp goose fat
2Tbsp honey
500ml of bisto gravy
4 Yorkshire puddings





Very easy and well satisfying !
See what time you would like your dinner , and make sure that 8 hours before you put your joint in the slow cooker and a low setting.
Preheat the oven on 200 degrees
Peel all your vegetables and chop thinly your rosemary . Para boil the potatoes , carrots and parsnips.
Get a baking dish out and put a big spoon full of goose fat in it and put in the oven until it's all melted and hot. Take it out carefully and add the potatoes to it. ( be very careful as its hot and it might splash) sprinkle over some olive oil and the chopped rosemary season and put in the oven for about an hour. Or until your potatoes are nice and brown all over.
Get another baking tray and in it sort nicely the parsnips and carrots. Make sure they don't over lap , as they won't roast for you. But steam. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle the rosemary. Spread some honey over the parsnips and bake then in the oven for about 35 mins .
Boil the broccoli and the cauliflower .
Last 3 mins put your Yorkshire puddings in the oven so they go nice and crispy . Prepare the gravy and serve your roast !! Yum Yum .

A twist on a traditional cottage pie

Cottage Pie

Hello there , I know two days of no writing, shame on me. So this was Saturday's dinner for us. I try to enjoy the most of the weekend family fun. As normally my man is at work. The kids love it when he's around.He was an angle he chopped ready all the vegetables for me, and try get the kid helping as well .

Well I said a twist on the pie, it's nothing too big , but you all now kids and vegetables are not best of friends. So I try to put as many veggies in as I can possibly find in my fridge.
It won't really taste any different and you have them all in there ;) I find it a good cheat .


Total time: 1hr 30 mins
Preparation time: 30 mins
Cooking time: 1hr
Serves 4-5

Ingredients

1 big carrot
1 onion
2 cloves of garlic
2 celery sticks
500g of mince
a pinch of cinnamon
1 tin chopped tomatoes
1 Tbsp tomatoes puree'
seasoning
1 Tbsp plain flour
1 vegetable stock
1 spring thyme (leaves picked)
Worcester sauce
olive oil

For the mash

6 potatoes
1/4 of a cauliflower
2/3 parsnips
2 knobs of butter
1 Tbsp horseradish
150ml of milk
Paprika
Parmesan
rosemary
seasoning




I always start with chopping all the vegetables and get all the things ready out on the bench . So it's all easy to reach. I find it easy that way and I don't forget to add anything. As I have a short memory and easily distracted. I have quite a handful my two little monkey's.

When the chopping is nicely done, boil a kettle and pour into a pot so u can put in the potatoes, cauliflower and parsnips . Put a lid on and leave to boil while u can start the sauce.
Crack the oven on 180 degrees.
Meanwhile heat up some oil in a pan . Get your vegetables cote the well in the oil and and start frying them gently , until soft for about 5 mins. Or until you think they are soft enough. Inn with the mince and brown all over, Stir in the picked leaves of thyme and a pinch of cinnamon for a minute and a nice good splash of Worcester sauce. Leave until it reduces by half and add the flour . Stir the flour well before u add the stock , chopped tomatoes and the puree'.Add the seasoning and the sugar. (this helps to lower the acidity of the tomatoes) Bring to boil and leave to simmer for 10-15 mins uncovered.

In the meantime your potatoes are nice and soft. Drain and bring back to the pot. In with the butter and mash it all up, add your milk little by little as you don't want it too creamy your mash. Otherwise it won't hold properly on your sauce. When it 's to your desire add the horseradish to give it a little kick.

You can now start assembling your pie. Your sauce should be nice and thick by now so you can pour it in the base of an oven dish. Make sure the dish is big enough to hold your pie. Leave the sauce to cool a little bit before you cover with your  mash. About 10 minutes. Spread the mash out evenly and cover with Parmesan ( I try to leave my mash all rocky so that the tips go more brown and crunchy) . sprinkle over some paprika and seasoning and prick some rosemary in the mash, so that it gives out some flavor while baking in the oven.
Leave to cool for a while at least 10 mins , so that you can cut out some nice portions, and enjoy .
Put in the oven for about 25 minutes or until nice and brown on top.

Bangers and Mash with an onion gravy

I want to appologise myself again, for yesterday. I got carried away and forgot to take a picture!
Admitingliy I was looking at christmas dinner and what to cook. Yes I know Me and food!! I can never get enough of it. I like eating nearly as much as love cooking. Have you planned your   Christmas dinner yet? Well I have an idea of what I'll be cooking, and no not telling you just yet!
Today it's Friday as you all now and friday's normally my lazy cooking day. So normally I go for something quick and not much effort put into it.
I have some good quality sausages which I will serve with a nice creamy mash , peas and a delicoius homemade onion gravy with a nice warm baguette to go with it!

Total time: 30/40 mins
preperation ; 15/25 mins
cooking : 15 mins
Level : easy
Serves four

Ingredients

12 good quality sausages
6 medium potatoes
2 onions
1tbsp Dijon mustard
1tbsp plain flour
1 vegetable stock cube
A cup of peas
Baguette
2 good knobs of butter
150ml of milk
A pinch of nutmeg
Olive oil
Seasoning
Soy sauce
Horse raddish




Turn your grill on moderate heat, pile your sausages neatly on a tray and put under the grill. Follow instructions on your pack . But normally it will take about 15 /20 mins to cook. Make sure to keep an eye on them and turn them to brown all over.
Prepare your potatoes . Peel them and chop roughly, put in some boiling water and leave to cook until nice soft and fluffy. When done , drain them and add butter , before start mashing and then add the milk slowly until u get the nice consistency of your desire, I add some double cream to mine to make it a bit more creamy and finish with a pinch of grated nutmeg and a dolop of horse raddish for that extra taste .

For the gravy

Chop your onions and stick them into a nice hot sizzling pan, turn your heat down. And keeping an eye on then leave them soften for about 10 mins. Cooking them like this it releases the natural sugar of the onion. But you don't want them brown. Add the mustard and stir for 30 seconds. Add the plain flour and leave until it goes a bit brown. don't worry if it sticks a bit , it will all melt away when you add your stock. So now add the stock and simmer until thick to your desire. Just before you turn it off add a nice splash of soy sauce.  Season and pour into a gravy bowl. And there you go onion and mustard gravy.

Happy Friday ;)

Chicken breast and a gratin

Hello
It's another and a fresh new month. As I have already told you most of my cooking is normally inspired by Jamie Oliver , so today I am going to be cooking one of his meals. It's from his new series 15 minutes meals. Well I'm sure I won't be quick as that, probably will take me 30 mins or so . Can't wait to try it as it looks delicious and after all , chicken and bacon are always in winner in my house ;)
Well I might change a few bits from the way he done, not because I don't like it as it is, but for the simple reason I like to experiment and make it a bit my own, in a way . (Oh I just remembered that I didn't upload a picture of yesterday's dinner silly me.)

Total time: 55mins
preperation: 20 mins
cooking:  35 mins
Level : meduim
serves 4

Ingredients

For the Gratin

5 big potatoes
2 medium onions
1 vegetable cube
Parmesan for topping
1 tub single cream
olive oil

For the Chicken

4 chicken breast (halved and opened like a book)
Rosemary
4 rashers streaky bacon

Side Dish

3 leeks
a cup of peas
200g spinach
a big knob of butter



I always start by preparing everything I will need. Take all the ingredients out and place them ready to be used on the bench. Wash the potatoes as I'm going to leave the skin on and slice them as thin as I can. Then halved my chicken breast so that I make them thinner , therefore quicker to cook. Slice the onions (I hate this bit, they always make me cry badly) and leeks finely and the thinly chop the bacon. I do take my time while chopping, so probably took me more then 20 min! But I'm in no particular rush generally.

So now after all the chopping and slicing is done, I can get started.

Preheat the oven on 190 degrees. A pan for frying the chicken , another for the onions, a pot with lid for the greens and an oven dish for the gratin .  Fry gently your onions in some oil, and tip in the oven dish when nice and soft. layer with your potatoes and tip in some single cream, about 150ml water mixed with the stock cube. Then sprinkle over some golden bread crumbs , pepper scatter some rosemary and  cover with Parmesan cheese. Stick in the oven for about an hour.

Get a pot with a lid and melt a nice good knob of butter, put the leeks in and make sure they are well coted in the butter. Add some seasoning and cover for about 6-10 mins , but keep an eye on it as it might catch . And stir it every 2-3 mins. Then add the peas and leave for another 3 minutes till soft and chuckk all the spinach in and cover again. it will easily wilt. Make sure you do all this on a low heat.

Heat up so oil in a pan and make sure it's piping hot before you put your chicken in. They won't take long to cook. Leave until nice and brown on both sides.
Serve the chicken on the bed of greens and with the gratin on the side. Enjoy!

Sorry no pictures today as it slipped out of my mind :/